For an advocacy group seeking attention, tying its cause to the kickoff of the NFL season is never a bad strategy.

Such was the thinking behind a billboard unveiled Wednesday by the Marijuana Policy Project not far from Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium — home of the Broncos, who hosted the Baltimore Ravens Thursday night in the first game of the 2013 NFL campaign. “Stop Driving Players To Drink!” the 48 X 14 foot message says. “A Safer Choice Is Now Legal (Here).” The visual: a football next to a beer mug.

Why didn’t the Marijuana Policy Project post an actual joint on the billboard? “We want people to take a look at the billboard ad and ask themselves about why we treat alcohol differently from marijuana,” says Mason Tvert, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. “With the marijuana leaf, there tends to be this knee-jerk reaction of not liking it.”

Recreational marijuana is now legal (for those over 21) in Colorado and Washington, home to the Broncos and Seattle Seahawks. But the NFL and other sports leagues won’t be allowing players to smoke up in those states. Drug policies are collectively bargained between leagues and players, and in the NFL, marijuana is prohibited. Under labor law, the NFL can punish players for doing something legal — as long as the players have agreed to the policy, which in this case, they have.

Sen. John McCain indicated he may be changing his stance on marijuana legalization during a town hall event in Arizona on Thursday.

Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller tweeted that McCain said "maybe we should legalize" during the Phoenix event:

McCain isn't the first one in his family to show signs of support for marijuana legalization. His daughter Meghan McCain came out in favor of pot legalization -- and admitted she'd smoked a joint -- in June 2012.

McCain didn't just address the topic of pot legalization during the town hall. He faced a tough crowd during the event while discussing the situation in Syria, with many in the crowd largely opposed to military action.

LANSING, MI -- Lillith Gwener survived sexual and physical abuse as a child, but she couldn't make it through a PG-13 movie this week without shaking and sobbing.

Gwener, 46, has lived most of her life with post-traumatic stress disorder, and her symptoms can be triggered by a variety of stimuli. Wednesday night, a violent scene in "The Butler" set her off.

"You're always in fight or flight," she said. "You're always afraid. Like me going to see this movie last night. I'm sitting in a movie and all of a sudden I'm shaking, I'm hyperventilating and I'm going through a pure anxiety attack."

Gwener was one of roughly 20 patients, activists and entrepreneurs who testified Thursday afternoon at a public meeting of the Michigan Marihuana Review Panel, which is considering a citizen petition to add PTSD to the list of debilitating conditions suitable for treatment under the state's voter-approved law.

The Holland resident is certified to use medical marijuana for chronic pain, but she said the medication also has proved effective for her PTSD and insomnia.

"It gives me a moment between the event -- the trigger -- and what my brain does. It lets me take that minute and realize, 'Hey, this is just a movie. I'm not under attack.'"